Critical reviews (by Lutheran pastors and church musicians) of books and other resources for Christian worship, preaching, and church music from a perspective rooted in Holy Scripture, the Lutheran Confessions and good common sense. LHP Quarterly Book Review asks, "Is it worth the money to buy, the time to read, the shelf space to store, and the effort to teach?"

As the commission embarks upon the publication of its labors, it would make some preliminary remarks which are at the same time to be construed as suggestions: As far as concerns the method kept for indicating the first name of the hymnwriter, all the former, irregular abbreviations should be dropped. There is one hymnwriter, the founder and master of our hymnody, whose first name needs no indication. Under all of Luther hymns it should only read "Luther." The complete indication of multiple given names with many of the composers seemed superfluous to the commission. It was of the opinion that one given name sufficed, since every excess of this minimum impaired the image of the hymn, and that an added given name was only necessary to ensure an author's certification and prevent confusion with another writer of the same name. But in the process, it became clear that in many cases the second and third given name had become so connected to the writer that no thought could be given to cutting out the ostensibly superfluous names. These have therefore been left intact. The aliases, however, were not, since it appeared unnecessary to the commission to keep them under the hymn text, e.g.: "Gramann (Poliander)," "Bienemann (Melissander)," "von Birken (Betulius)," "Behm (Behem, Behemb, Bohemus)," and the like. The latinized names, as much as feasible, were dropped, and titles and dates of births and deaths, as well as alleged years of hymn composition, were omitted. The dating of hymns is doubtful in the majority of cases. Even Luther's hymns cannot all be dated. Of the 131 pieces written by Paul Gerhardt, an exact date can only be given for five, and these are occasional hymns. To provide the biographical dates would become monotonous in many cases; we would have to repeat them 36 times with Luther, 39 with Gerhardt, 32 with Heermann, and 11 times each with Rist and Olearius. What would be the purpose? All these omissions should be included in a special hymnwriter index in the hymnal appendix; that is their proper place. The index of authors would provide occupational titles, vocations, and personal details. Something characteristic of the hymnwriter could also be included there, e.g., his importance for the church or the Christian life; a famous saying of his, some excellent book of edification that he wrote, the circle in which he moved, etc. What a light is shed on, e.g., the hymn "Lasset uns mit Jesu ziehen" [Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus], when we learn that the writer was forced to flee Bohemia with his parents because of his faith, or when we hear that Fleming wrote his travel hymn "In allen meinen Taten" [In All My Plans, Thou Highest] as he set out on his journey to the Orient. Many would certainly be surprised to find out from the notes that our hymns were not only written by theologians, but that poets of various places and vocations in life enhance our church's history.

With thoses hymns referred to as adespota, because their authors are not yet determined, the hymnal or hymn collection will tell where the hymn first appeared in print. Original stanza as well as added stanzas will, as previously, be indicated. The spelling of a number of author's names was examined and corrected. With many hymns, a biblical connection appears before the author's name. This scripture reference is best placed before the hymn. The historical notes under the hymns have been kept as brief as possible. In order to save room, the hymns in the list here following are arranged according to number, not according to first line. For the sake of completeness, all the hymns in the list are given, including those not in need of correction:

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Martin Luther said:

"There have never been, nor are there now, too many good books."

LHPQBR

Welcome to QBR/Lutheran Book Review

Liturgy, Hymnody, and Pulpit began as a newsletter to pastors, musicians, and laypeople in the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod from our Worship Chairman to ease the transition from The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, and Hymnal Supplement 98 to Lutheran Service Book. Early on, we recommended books, CDs, and music. Those recommendations eventually became book reviews.

In Advent 2006, LHP Quarterly Book Review was born. In our first three years, we published 600 pages of book reviews and reviews of other resources, sermons, articles, and editorials.

Our archives are available as downloadable pdf files.

Beginning with Volume 4, LHP QBR switched to a blog format instead.

Since adopting the blog format, we have been able to forward interesting posts from other blogs for your consideration and reflection.

In response to an expressed need, we now have two sub blogs that both feed into Liturgy, Hymnody, and Pulpit Quarterly Book Review.

Readers that wish to only receive our original book and resource reviews and be notified of new resources that we have received may go to http://lhplbr.blogspot.com/, the LHP Lutheran Book Review blog.

Special Thanks to The Rev. Richard O. Boche, Wyoming District President

Contributors and Reviewers are identifiedat the end of each signed article or review.

Note:Unsolicited titles will be considered for review based on the time our volunteer reviewers have available,how interested we believe our readers would be in the unsolicited resource,and how closely related the item is to preaching, Christian worship, and Church music in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.

FTC Regulations Compliance

Disclosure of Material Connection: LHP QBR received these books or other resources free from the publisher. We were not required to write a positive review. The opinions we have expressed are our own.

While every effort was made to be as accurate and objective as possible, inevitably, the opinions of the authors of various articles and reviews will surface, and individually, we take full responsibility for them. Opinions expressed are those of the individual contributors, and may not necessarily reflect that of the LCMS, the Wyoming District, or LHP QBR.